Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

181divide and blur lines between work and non-work. The degree <strong>of</strong> privacy (openness/being withoutschedules by others) is a key dimension when characterizing work environments. The degree <strong>of</strong>privacy is also relevant for distributed and virtual work environments.Asko Alanen (Jabba Oy) told the story <strong>of</strong> a new kind <strong>of</strong> an advertising agency. Advertisingagencies have traditionally been close to their customers. Jabba is located in Rovaniemi and Oulu,both <strong>of</strong> which are in the northern parts <strong>of</strong> Finland. The key to their success has been the solidcoordination <strong>of</strong> creativity and pr<strong>of</strong>essional know-how into customer-oriented services. This hasmeant that they have had to show their customers that they are different from others and they havethe best price/quality ratio.As an example Mr. Alanen used their “Lapland Safari” (with ski-do) that combines marketing,tourist attractions and business meetings. Jabba is a typical example <strong>of</strong> teleworking in a certainsense. The technical solutions for their daily operations must be reliable. They also must workmuch harder than the advertising agencies in the metropolitan region.The last presentation was by Pekka Himanen (University <strong>of</strong> Helsinki). He talked about hackerethics, which is a new kind <strong>of</strong> work ethic that, according to Himanen, is replacing the protestantwork ethic.The number <strong>of</strong> knowledge and information producers is continuously increasing. In this sphere <strong>of</strong>social division <strong>of</strong> labour, the protestant work ethic is no longer functional. Instead, a new workethic is emerging. It is based on a passionate relationship to your work and your commitment todevelop. You have a creative relationship with your job (cf. Linux), and all this is fun.We are moving towards a society where the basis for economic growth is in creativity, not inmanufacturing or routine services. This requires structural changes in the mental structure. Underthese circumstances, the protestant work ethic simply does not work any more. Work is no longera duty, and there is no clear distinction between work and leisure.The new worker is a hacker, a young and open-minded creator, who is accustomed to beingvirtual. For them virtuality is a mere practical matter. The most important issues are openness andcreativity.